Mindful choices for healthy and low sodium cooking

Fresh from my garden in Sydney to the table and pantry, this eggplant and lemon relish is tasty and simple. It felt wonderful to be creating something from seed to plant. Harvesting it was like bottling sunshine. Recipe shortly.

Equipment

Mixing Method

Soften Coconut oil with a spoon till creamy. Do not melt.
Add Baking Powder, Xanthum Gum and Coconut Sugar, stir until creamy.
Add Honey, Ginger and egg, stir until all combined
Add Flour and stir until has formed a soft sticky dough.

Cooking Method

Use 2 teaspoons to form oval shaped lozenges and spoon onto baking tray covered with parchment paper
Place in oven and cook for 15 minutes until golden brown
Cool on tray then store in an airtight container

Contrary to popular belief, you dont need a cupboard full of electrical mixers, blenders, grinders or other gadgets to start you on your journey to having fun with cooking. They are nice to have but unless you use it all the time a gadget does not save time – it just takes up space.

Below is a list of what I think should be in every kitchen, and it is what I advised my daughter when she moved into her first apartment.

Starting with the utensil drawer

Vegetable Peeler

Teflon spatula (commonly known as an egg lifter)

Silicon scraper x 2

Bamboo or Wooden spoons x3

Metal tongs

Ladle

Slotted Spoon

Large serving spoon

Pastry brush

Potato masher

Balloon whisk

Moving onto the larger utensils

Colander

Cheese grater – these come in a bewildering range of sizes so choose a free standing grater for your first one and gradually add to this

Large and small strainers (preferably with metal mesh)

Good quality chopping boards – keep one separated for preparing fruit and vegetables a tip is to buy this in a different colour. Dont use glass boards- they ruin the knives’ edge

Set of small stackable bowls for preparation

At least 2 Mixing bowls – preferably glass or stainless steel; neither of which will react or absorb the flavours of the food you are preparing

8″ Chef’s knife (I prefer Wusthof Trident but that is another matter)

8 to 10″ Serrated Blade knife

at least 2 paring knives – these come in handy for most small preparation

Rolling pin

Set of measuring cups and spoons

Large pyrex measuring jug (dual measurments are great)

Disposable storage containers (I use these because I dont fret when the food stains them and I have to throw them out)

Now for the Big Stuff

A good set of saucepans should include lids and at a minimum you need a small medium and large of the best quality you can afford. Skimping on this will cost money in burnt food if the bases are too thin.

Add to this at least one Deep dish 10″ teflon coated frying pan with lid. This can be used to cook an amazing variety of foods and casseroles.

Square sided Cannisters for your staples always come in handy, they stack in the cupboard and keep out critters and you can see at a glance what you need when doing a shopping list. Alternately stack all of the baking ingredients into a tub to keep out the moisture and critters.

Spices need to be stored away from direct sunlight to maintain their flavour, you can use another tub to store these.

For Baking I recommend the following basics

Muffin pan

8″ round cake pan

Teflon baking tray

8″ Loaf pan

2 x Baking sheets

2 x wire racks to cool the cooked food or rest pans on when out of oven

Dont forget that you can add to this as you discover the need or have the money to expand with more toys.

Making pastry is one of the things that that has been known to make a good cook shiver in their shoes. For some, making a souffle can seem easier by comparison. However, it is easier than it might first seem. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you master it.

There are two main things that are key in making melt-in-the-mouth pastry.

The first is to use enough shortening (butter, fat, margarine); the fat used is called shortening because it shortens the protein strands in the flour (gluten) and makes the finished product melt in your mouth.

The second is to use a very light hand when mixing in the liquid and rolling it out.

I only roll pastry twice and then discard it. Oonce it becomes tough and stretchy when rolling, (springs back to smaller than what you rolled) the texture of the pastry is tough to eat when cooked.

With the 2 rules in place, here is my recipe for no sodium pastry.

Making the dough
I use a proportion of 2cups of General Purpose flour (plain flour) to 2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter.

Rub the butter through the flour until you get a consistency that will form a ball when squeezed lightly.

Make a well or hollow in the centre of the flour/butter mix

Add 2 eggs to give the pastry a rich golden colour – this also helps keep it together.

Then add 2 tablespoons of water (you may need to add more water – dependent on the humidity of the day)

REMEMBER I SAID TO HANDLE IT LIGHTLY
This starts with mixing the dough. Use a knife to stop from over-stretching the protein.

Keep mixing until the pastry forms a ball, this is where you add more water if need be. Too much water will make pastry tough, so be sparing with the water.

The pastry is ready when it has formed a ball. Test the water content by taking a small piece the size of a walnut, flatten in your hand and pull gently – it should break before being stretched more than ¼ inch or 1cm. If it does not stretch at all – add a bit more water.

Saving the pastry
Wrap in the finished pastry in a plastic bag and let the this sit for 30 mins before using. This rest allows the protein/gluten to relax for a short crust finish.

Basics that use short crust pastry
Now you are ready to make anything you wish that requires a good short crust pastry, including pie crust, pasties, quiche, cheese straws, samosas etcetera.

Sweet pastry
There is another method to use when making sweet short crust pastry. I will explore that in another post.

Tips
To roll pastry out when it is very short – use 2 pieces of plastic one on bottom and one on top. Roll to desired thickness then remove the top layer of plastic to roll onto rolling pin and then flip over onto dish or pie you are trying to use the pastry on. Then peel the bottom plastic off (which is now on top) Voila – no more broken pastry!

We all have foods that invoke those halcyon days of our youth, warm comfort food that we ‘go to’ to make bad days better. Date loaf is one such food for my sister Ria, and in the past months all she wanted was some Date Loaf like we used to eat when we were kids. This recipe has been reverse engineered from memories of what it should taste like. When made using low sodium baking powder and sweet butter each slice averages 100mg sodium.

For the best results there are a couple of things to do first.

Date mix

Step One: the flavour is better if you can soak the dates overnight in the water and molasses. If you dont have time the day before – boil the water and pour over the chopped dates, place in freezer until cool (about 1 hour) use this time to do step 2.Step Two: Sift General purpose (plain flour) with the low sodium baking powder 6 times using a large strainer or sieve.Step Three: Preheat oven to 375F or 180C then grease and line the base of your loaf pans.